Documentary ‘Let it be’ finally remastered

MIAMI, United States.- Two years ago, renowned Australian director Peter Jackson shook the world’s music community with his documentary series The Beatles: Get Backwhich used dozens of hours of pristinely remastered outtakes from the legendary but elusive documentary Le it Bemade by the British Michael Lindsey-Hogg in 1970.

Despite the impact of the series, there was always the expectation of enjoying a copy of Let it Be with the same attributes that Jackson gave to his film.

It is claimed that both McCartney and Ringo and Harrison’s estate in particular were resistant to their public appearance again, due to filmed misunderstandings between Paul and George which resulted in the guitarist’s eventual abrupt departure from the group.

Since the 1990s I have kept a battered copy, made from the VHS cassette of the documentary that was once marketed. I think I saw it for information, but I never repeated the experience, waiting for the version that deserved the privilege of enjoying these four geniuses in one of the group’s most creative periods, which resulted in the emblematic albums Let it Be y Abbey Road.

The long-awaited documentary

The opportunity has just come and the wait has been worth it. Let it Be It is presented on the Disney Channel with the same excellence that characterizes Peter Jackson’s documentary, who has also been responsible for this remastering.

Where the series reveals the epic nature of a myth down to unsuspected details, Lindsey-Hogg’s documentary is an intimate, melancholic exploration of the same event.

At the beginning, they have inserted an introductory dialogue between Jackson and Lindsey-Hogg, where the director receives the deserved tribute. One of the many merits of the documentary, according to the former, is to deal with such a distinguished songbook in its origins, unknown at the time, almost always in full formation, before it became a classic.

Lindsey-Hogg explains that the filming process was a sort of prologue to the Beatles’ return to the stage, an event that had not occurred since 1966. The idea was to stage the concert with all the resources in a desert, but it did not come to fruition and they ended up singing on the roof of the Apple Corporation building. The last public appearance of the four of them, which always gives me an indescribable emotion.

It seems a pipe dream to think today that “The Long and Winding Road”, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Across the Universe”, “Oh! Darling” and “I Got a Feeling”, among other masterpieces, were once just ideas that the Beatles were considering for their recordings at the time, as the film testifies.

Censored by Castroism

In what Let it Be y Abbey Road were baked in the Beatles factory, without knowing for sure that they marked the end of a glorious era, the Cuban dictatorship was heading towards another economic failure, an unrealizable sugar harvest, and continued to torment its youth with the battered and decadent ideology that still characterizes it.

For my fellow countrymen, especially those who suffered the official nonsense of considering the Beatles as “ideological diversionism”, I can now rejoice in the documentary Let it Beguarantees them that suspicion that they were always on the right side of those who venerated the group against all risks.

Let it Be humanizes our cultural gods. Paul discusses George’s stubbornness, Yoko Ono remains an absurd sculpture sitting next to the love of her life and Ringo feels insecure when proposing the notes of a song that has an octopus in his garden as its protagonist.

Paul is the undisputed leader of the creative process, but John is perceived as the other half of a closed circle to which George and Ringo have little access. The Lennon and McCartney duo display moments of attachment and cohesion that are simply unforgettable.

Paul sings “Bésame mucho” in a version that fuses various variations of the classic. John and Yoko dance wildly to the tune of “I Me Mine” which George considers a “heavy waltz” and proposes with modesty.

The Beatles rehearse their songs in progress as if they were already ready to be released.

The cultural gods

The atmosphere is festive. George complains that the microphone is on fire and, jokingly, a technician tries to fix it. The other George – Martin – wanders around the room smiling and even accompanies them with an instrument.

In addition to new songs, the group seems to be warming up with old rock songs and even interpretations from their beginnings, as if they were on a public stage.

Lindsay-Hogg and his team keep abreast of the magic, at Apple Studios in Twickenham, which has few visual attributes for filmmaking, although it allows for greater concentration on the musicians.

When the Beatles finally emerge from those enclosed spaces, into the cold London air of the rooftop, in broad daylight, the announced party becomes a reality and we witness something that Ringo often repeats: when they came together to compose or sing, their differences were put aside and they demonstrated why they are the most important popular music group in history.

OPINION ARTICLE
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